Germany
The 'perfect' European cafe - I haven't found better. Beautiful garden, great food, the kind of service you always hope for, reasonably priced
The one place I always head for.
www.cafeeinstein.com/
Kurfürstenstraße 58 10785 Berlin, Germany
+49 30 263919
Google map: bit.ly/1492tJi
A fantastic little café in the lesser known neighbourhood "Der Wedding". Amazing coffee, four different kids of hot chocolate, homemade cakes, müseli for breakfast and potato wedges with Quark for lunch.
www.gilmores-berlin.de/
U-Bahnhof Rehberge, Müllerstraße 70b, 13349 Berlin
+49(0)30 4512090
One of the best coffee shops I've ever been to! Those guys sure enough know their business. The food was delicious, the place was cozy and the coffee was amazing - definitely worth a visit.
10247 Berlin Friedrichshain
T | +49 (0)30 288 392 33
Google map: tinyurl.com/y8a6sba
www.nofirenoglory.de/
A no-strings attached gem, the Weinerei offers unlimited wine, juice, and a meal for a one Euro fee (plus a donation on exit) in central Berlin.
The cafe itself is small, packed with locals and the wine isn't bad either!
A must-visit for budget travellers with a penchant for good wine, conversation and value.
www.weinerei.com/
Veteranenstraße 14, 10119 Berlin
030 4406983
Google map: tinyurl.com/yjoxpx7
Berlin in a nutshell. Peculiar mix of people - 70 year-old ladies in old-fashioned evening dresses and gentlemen in suits, urban bummers in Hugo Boss as well as crazy hipsters are to be seen in this old ballroom (existed since 1913) in the centre of Berlin.
Situated in a scraped building surrounded by numerous art galleries, the place was visited by Tom Cruise during his search for old-fashioned shooting locations for the film 'Valkyrie'. Good food and delicious home-made cakes. Music changes depending on the day (cha cha, swing, waltz and tango). In the summer, the garden is an additional attraction.
If you walk down the Auguststr (Berlin Mitte), you'll spot an enchanting garden and the scraped building behind it.
Clärchens Ballhaus, Auguststraße 24, Berlin Mitte.
www.ballhaus.de/
Cafe 100 Wasser is a good place to have a chilled out meal and a beer in the evening. The menu includes couscous, pizza and pasta at affordable prices.
Good service, relaxed atmosphere and friendly staff.
Cafe 100 Wasser
Simon-Dach-Straße 39
Berlin, Berlin 10245
Tel: +49 (0)30 2900 1356
info@cafe-100-wasser.de
www.cafe-100-wasser.de
This Friedrichshain bar has great atmosphere. Relax in the shabby chic surroundings (standard lamps, rugs, armchairs and wine-coloured walls) and enjoy whittling away the hours listening to the eclectic soundtrack, sipping beer for under two euros. Friendly staff and chilled out clientele. Look out for the wooden bowls of tea (bit odd and bitter).
Macondo
Boxhanger Platz, Friedrichshain
Small but perfectly formed cafe next to the Arcohotel in Mitte. Great espresso, big bowls of latte plus free wireless internet (admittedly a bit intermittent).
Nice American-style cafe bar serving delicious food in the hip Schlesisches Str area in Kreuzberg.
Near Schlesisches Tor u-bahn
Atmospheric cafe/restaurant inside an old villa. Walk through the dark wood and red leather interior to the pretty garden courtyard at the back. Serves great coffee and apple strudel.
Kurfurstenstrasse 58
Fantastic Vietnamese cafe/bar, serving unbelievably cheap fresh noodles, soups, dumplings and juices in a trendy bit of Mitte. Young and cool and always very crowded, with a picture of Monsieur Vuong on the bright yellow and red walls. A welcome respite from too many wursts!
Alte Schonhauser Strasse 46, Mitte
www.monsieurvuong.de
A lovely front room style cafe/bar. Relaxed vibe, friendly waitress/owner, comfy sofas, interesting wines, nice big cups of tea, and all at very decent prices.
Music was occassionally a bit naff and paintings are not all that, but we had a lovely chilled out time.
Opens 15h00-late in the winter, and 17h00-late in the summer.
Auguststraße 61
10119 Berlin
A 365m high space age tower. A zooming lift takes you to a viewing platform with fabulous vistas all over Berlin. For a meal or snack pop up to the revolving Tele-cafe, and watch Berlin spin slowly by whilst you enjoy a cake or, if it is warm, even an ice cream!
From Molly Quinlan (age 9).
U Bahn Alexanderplatz. More info at: www.berlinerfernsehturm.de
Very nice small cafe with very good food and Celeste is the sweetest girl I ever met.
Pariser Lunchbox
Pariser Str. 58, 10719 Berlin
www.myspace.com/PariserLunchbox
The neighbourhood to be in Berlin. Typically East German buildings now house “multi-kulti” inhabitants.
Rents are relatively cheap so it’s the preferred area of students, making it very lively and full of bustling clubs and cafes.
East Berlin
The Opernpalais cafe at Unter den Linden offers an experience unequalled anywhere that I know of. The opulent surroundings are only upstaged by the wonderful choice of delicious cakes. You can imagine being here in a long past era, whiling away your leisure hours with good conversation, kaffee und kuchen. Not to be missed.
Opernpalais, Unter den Linden 5, 10117 Berlin. Tel. 030 2026 83
Hidden away in Berlin's laid back East Side, this back-of-a-boatshed haunt for recovering weekenders and general misfits exemplifies the best of Berlin's DIY bar culture. Comfily lo-fi, still manages a natural tree-covered canopy, a covered cinema, consistently brilliant music, and plenty of canalside seats (even if that means sitting in a boat). Staff are friendly and sound without being too-cool-for-school, and atmosphere will accommodate everyone happily, whatever your pleasure. Only in Berlin...
The first place to head for a pre-match drink is the square around Hakescher Markt S-Bahn stop. When the weather's fine everyone sits outside and enjoys a quiet drink amid the hustle and bustle of the city's old Jewish quarter... more like being in Paris or Milan than Germany!
Just outside Hackescher Markt S-Bahnhof
Unbelievable tapas bar that we only visited by chance after being rudely barged out of the queue for the Fernsehturm cafe. I have never eaten tapas in Spain but I cannot believe it can be any better than this. The place is completely rammed in the evening but on a Sunday afternoon it was scandalously easy to get a table. Cross my heart I will never eat in La Tasca again…
Rosenthaler Strasse 37, U-Bahn Hackescher Markt; tel 030 283 912 13
Cafe in Prenzlauer Berg - excellent food, bargain prices and a fantastic, stylish, relaxed atmosphere.
Knaackstrasse 22-24. Nearest U-Bahn: Senefelder-platx
www.bar-gagarin.de
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